Caregiving

http://www.pbs.org/lifepart2/watch/season-2/caregiving 1:33 – 3:50

Take Away Points Vocab: caregiver, social control (explicit, implicit) How are changing population demographics impacting caregiving? What are the communicative challenges of caregiving? What are challenges in caregiver-patient communication? How does the patient’s social identity (a) change and (b) impact this communication? How can caregivers mitigate the stress of caring for someone? (hint: it has to do with social support) Why might caregivers be unwilling to communicate their stress or concerns to others? How could someone perceive social control to be nagging or helpful? What are other challenges to trying to enact social control?

Definition of Caregiver “anybody who provides unpaid help, or arranges for help, to a relative or friend because they have an illness or disability” P. 56 from the reading

Variety of Caregiving Situations Spouses with each other E.g., one spouse has a heart attack Parents for ill children Adult children for elderly parents Adult for another adult that can’t take care of self E.g., sister has car accident

Why is there greater focus on caregiving as of late?

What is challenging about being a caregiver?

Communicative Challenges for Caregivers Providing physical and emotional support to the patient Being a liaison between patient and health care providers Handling financial and social affairs for the patient Monitoring symptoms and communicating them to providers

Take Away Points Vocab: caregiver, social control (explicit, implicit) How are changing population demographics impacting caregiving? What are the communicative challenges of caregiving? What are challenges in caregiver-patient communication? How does the patient’s social identity (a) change and (b) impact this communication? How can caregivers mitigate the stress of caring for someone? (hint: it has to do with social support) Why might caregivers be unwilling to communicate their stress or concerns to others? How could someone perceive social control to be nagging or helpful? What are other challenges to trying to enact social control?

One of the most challenging caregiver jobs is providing emotional support to the patient.

Caregiving and Identity Issues

How does communication relate to identity?

How would a person’s identity shift as s/he goes from an independent person to someone who requires a caregiver?

How might caregiver-patient communication relate to identity issues?

Caregivers’ communication with their social network can reduce the caregiver’s stress. Receive emotional and tangible support

Caregivers are often unwilling to communication concerns (to patient or other support members). Why? Why is this “bad”?

Take Away Points Vocab: caregiver, social control (explicit, implicit) How are changing population demographics impacting caregiving? What are the communicative challenges of caregiving? What are challenges in caregiver-patient communication? How does the patient’s social identity (a) change and (b) impact this communication? How can caregivers mitigate the stress of caring for someone? (hint: it has to do with social support) Why might caregivers be unwilling to communicate their stress or concerns to others? How could someone perceive social control to be nagging or helpful? What are other challenges to trying to enact social control?

Caregiving and Social Control

What is social control? Social control: the urgings, advice, and insistence that one practice good health behaviors Explicit (e.g., “take your medicine”) Implicit (e.g., spouse only cooks healthy food at home) Social control example: Game of Cards when the wife gets him the rowing machine

When is social control helpful vs. harmful? Nagging vs. Expressing Care Caring is a double-edged sword Talking can be seen as nagging, but avoiding can be seen as a lack of caring Disagreement on topic but don’t want it to reflect relational discontent Partner feels burdened Couples don’t want to dwell on the illness (And talking about lifestyle changes does that…) Goldsmith et al., 2006

Take Away Points Vocab: caregiver, social control (explicit, implicit) How are changing population demographics impacting caregiving? What are the communicative challenges of caregiving? What are challenges in caregiver-patient communication? How does the patient’s social identity (a) change and (b) impact this communication? How can caregivers mitigate the stress of caring for someone? (hint: it has to do with social support) Why might caregivers be unwilling to communicate their stress or concerns to others? How could someone perceive social control to be nagging or helpful? What are other challenges to trying to enact social control?